Let Girls Learn is a government-wide effort that will leverage the investments we have made and success we have achieved in global primary school, and expand them to help adolescent girls complete their education.

Japan has a surprisingly large number of St. Patrick’s Day events with parades in several cities. The largest by far is the Tokyo St. Patrick’s Day Parade in “Omotesando” with 15,000 participants and 50,000 spectators. The event features marching bands, cheerleaders and plenty of enthusiastic supporters. The organizers recommend a few local pubs for after the parade.

Two Japanese power companies have announced they will scrap three ageing nuclear reactors. It marks the first moves to permanently shut down nuclear reactors since the Fukushima disaster four years ago.

Police have arrested a third-year junior high school boy for attempting to kill a goat. The boy told police he was inspired to kill someone after watching videos of Islamic State extremists beheading hostages and that he wanted to practice on the goat first.

Lightning is one of mother nature’s most spectacular phenomena. But add lightning to a volcanic eruption and the event seems otherworldly! In this DNews video, Trace has all the details on the atmospheric conditions that bring these two forces together

A VOLCANO explodes into life as it sprays burning hot ash high into the air – followed by a deafening shockwave. Shot by filmmaker Marc Szeglat, 47, this incredible footage shows the highly active Sakurajima volcano on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The German videographer was able to capture the rare phenomenon of volcanic lightning, as well as an explosive shockwave which rippled through the sky. Sakurajima, translated as Cherry Island, has been erupting on a regular basis since 1955 and is a constant danger to the nearby city of Kagoshima, which has a population of over 600,000.

Japan government calls for a new law, not taking a leave from office is illegal. Japan says that everyone now will have to take at least of 5 paid leaves in a year, which if not taken will be considered as illegal.

Published on 16 Mar 2015TEPCO delays making ice wallsNuclear & Energy Mar. 16, 2015 – Updated 18:48 UTC-4Tokyo Electric Power Company has postponed a project designed to keep groundwater out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where it is trying to reduce the buildup of contaminated water at the site.The company was planning to freeze soil around the crippled reactor buildings in order to create an underground wall of ice a kilometer and a half long.The work was slated to start this month, but was postponed by one month following the accidental deaths of workers in January.Work has scheduled to begin to freeze soil in one section, between the plant and a hill.But TEPCO says it has not yet asked the nuclear regulator for permission to freeze another section between the plant and the sea, and it is unclear when the full frozen wall will be completed.The buildup of radioactive water is another problem the utility is facing. TEPCO said it would process 600,000 tons of tainted water by the end of May. Now it says that 20,000 tons, including much amount of seawater, will not be finished by that time.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan is “ready” to take on a more prominent role at the United Nations… that is, as permanent member at its Security Council.The Japanese leader made the remarks at an event in Tokyo… marking the 70th anniversary of the world body.Prime Minister Abe said Japan was built on “deep regret over the past war”… but failed to clarify the countries he was addressing. He went on to underline Japan′s years of contributions to the United Nations and as a peace-loving nation to the world. He also did not respond to a request by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon… who in an earlier speech… and urged leaders of Japan, China and Korea to push harder for reconciliation over past war-time disagreements… calling it the “missing link” for peace and stability in northeast Asia region.

It’s one of the most dangerous assumptions in recent years. That politicians and central bankers know what they are doing as they fiddle with global economies. Case in point – Japan.Prime Minister Abe arrived with a bang and said he was the man to lift Japan out of its twenty year long economic coma. He bought a turbocharged carlos fandango money printing machine and turned the volume up to eleven. He announced that deflation would be history and the central bank would manage inflation up to his target of two per cent a year.So, two and a bit years on, how’s he doing? Well, his ego must be flattered that the world has coined a new term for his profligacy, Abenomics. It begs the question why we haven’t had Obamanomics or Cameronomics. But he’s the one who’ll go down in history with his name attached to artificial financial stimulus. And he certainly got off to a promising start, reflected in a boom for the Japanese stock market in 2013 and of course a weakening of the yen by more than twenty per cent against other currencies that helped make Japanese exports cheaper. But recently the wheels have rather come off. After reaching a six year high of one point five per cent in April, inflation fell to one point four per cent in May and again to one point three per cent in June. There’s even been a warning from Bank of Japan governor Harhiko Kuroda that inflation could fall back to just one per cent over the summer. His deputy tells us that we should focus on the upward trend in inflation rather than these minor blips, but how good is his crystal ball? Remember uncle Graham’s first rule of finance – Never Believe A Banker! SO what has been happening? Well, the very weakening of the currency that encouraged exports also made imported fuel and minerals more expensive. That temporarily contributed to inflation but those effects are now diminishing. And there are some new price measures that show things aren’t as rosy as Abe and his Bank Governor would have us believe. Some clever people at Hitotsubashi University have devised a price index based on bar codes from four thousand everyday items that people actually buy in the shops. This is a bit radical, because it uses a technique alien to politicians and central bankers called The Truth. Its a weekly index rather than monthly, so much more real time. And it tracks things we actually buy like sandwiches at lunchtime or toiletries in the pharmacy. And it’s not good news for Mr Abe. Across a much wider basket of goods than is used for the official figures, real inflation at convenience stores has been just nought point four per cent in the last twelve months. And in grocery stores, prices have actually come down. The dreaded deflation. So how has the father of Abenomics responded? With Womenonics! Yes, Japan has a dire track record of women returning to the workplace after having children. Just over a third are tempted back, placing Japan behind global powerhouses like Tajikstan and Cameroon in the gender equality league table. With an ageing and a shrinking population, Japan needs to double this figure in the next decade if it’s to continue growing. But there are tax disincentives for both parents to work and childcare is so hard to find that some women pretend to divorce their husbands so they can jump the queue as a single mother. Abe has promised to create four hundred thousand new day care places though it’s not clear where all the teachers will come from. And Japanese men may have to change their ways – at the moment they spend fifty nine minutes a day on housework, the lowest in the developed world. If their wives are to return to the workplace, domestic chores will need to be more evenly shared. You have to admire Abe for being thinking big and doing something to buck the trend of the last twenty years. But, as my new friend Harry Dent would say, you can’t buck a multi decade demographic cliff. A smaller population following a larger one is always going to have a deflationary impact. If you’re relying on politicians and central bankers to overcome the basic laws of economics, be very careful out there.

Deflation has dogged Japan for two decades. Shinzo Abe is finally trying to grasp the nettle and do something about it. David Pilling, the FT’s Asia editor, discusses with John Authers whether Mr Abe’s gamble will be worth the risk.